Heather Maloney almost didn’t release her upcoming album, “Exploding Star,” to the public. An album born of grief and loss was too raw, too personal, to go public, she felt, so she kept it for herself. But when her closest friends and family suggested that it could help others who were grieving, Maloney changed her mind and decided to share the album with the world — and it’ll make its debut in Northampton in two weeks ..read more

Bluegrass music (like this reporter) is native to the American South, but starting next week, it’ll have a new home here in the Valley ..read more

Richardson’s Candy Kitchen in Deerfield celebrated its 70th anniversary last year. The Woodward family has operated the business since 1983, when they took over where the Richardsons left off. Owner Kathie Williams (née Woodward), grew up in the business, which has always had strong ties with the local farming community ..read more

When it was Rollas Batten’s night to cook, he went with pizza: “Store bought ingredients, 30 minutes to table, smiles on the faces of my dinner crowd, it's the way to go ..read more

Jonathan Edwards, one of Northampton’s most famous residents, was a revolutionary preacher whose legacy has endured through centuries. He was the first minister in Northampton to baptize African Americans, yet he did not free those he enslaved. He was a loving husband, yet he supported complementarianism, a theological belief that gender roles are ordained by God. And his work inspired several suicides ..read more

The local theater company Valley Players will present a production of the play “Love Letters” on Feb. 7, 8, 14 and 15, each at 7:30 p.m., at Black Birch Vineyard in Hatfield ..read more

During migration season this past fall, researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, using Nexrad weather radar, tracked approximately 4 billion birds migrating from Canada into the U.S. and 4.7 million birds leaving the U.S. for the tropics. Clearly one strategy for dealing with New England weather is to leave it behind. But other species’ strategies have traded the benefits and perils posed by thousands of miles of travel for the benefits and perils of northern winters ..read more

Anyone who has ever dabbled in the art of photography will understand that you find yourself at the mercy of your environment. Of course, I am speaking of outdoor photography in this case. Studio photography is an entirely different organism because in that particular endeavor the art lies in manufacturing an environment. If you are outdoors, however, you have to find ways to make due with what you’ve got on any particular day ..read more

Some restaurants are once-in-a-while places. Maybe they’re a bit fancy. Maybe their menu is a bit one-dimensional. Maybe they’re great for grabbing a sandwich to-go between meetings, or a sit-down Sunday morning brunch while your parents are in town, but not both ..read more

Pat Riggs of Leeds made eggplant involtini (an Italian dish of thin slices of meat or vegetable wrapped around another food) from America’s Test Kitchen “The Completely Vegetarian Cookbook.” “It was my first try,” she said, “and it turned out as delicious as it looks ..read more